New Taipei City’s AI governance has once again earned recognition on the international stage. The New Taipei City Government’s project, “Building a Trusted City-Scale AI Framework: New Taipei City AI Governance Guidelines and Artificial Intelligence Evaluation Center (AIEC),” stood out among many leading technology projects from across the Asia-Pacific region to win the regional Best in Security and Trust at the 2026 IDC Future Enterprise Awards. Widely regarded as the Oscars of smart city and digital transformation, the IDC Future Enterprise Awards are among the most respected honors in the region. This win shows that New Taipei’s approach to AI governance is now recognized well beyond Taiwan, across the wider Asia-Pacific region. The award ceremony took place on November 12 at the 2026 IDC AI & Data Summit ASEAN in Singapore. Wu Yan-Huei, Section Chief at the New Taipei City Government Information Center, accepted the award on behalf of the city. This is New Taipei’s third time on the IDC awards stage, following 2023, when its 5G Smart Pole Project and Comprehensive Cybersecurity Defense System projects won awards at both the Taiwan and Asia-Pacific levels.

    International Data Corporation (IDC) is one of the world’s leading technology advisory and research firms. Established in 2017, the IDC Future Enterprise Awards have grown over the past decade. The awards attract over 1,400 project entries annually from across the Asia-Pacific, with a competitive win rate of under 10%, making the awards one of the region’s most prestigious benchmarks for digital transformation and innovation. Reflecting an era defined by ubiquitous intelligence, this year’s theme centers on the "AI-driven future enterprise" across 11 distinct categories. Entries go through multiple rounds of review by a judging panel of IDC analysts, industry leaders, and academic experts. To claim the Best in Security and Trust award, organizations must demonstrate a robust, real-world trust strategy spanning risk assessment and management, regulatory compliance, security management, privacy protection, ethics and social responsibility, and transparency and good governance pillars. New Taipei’s AI trust framework meets each of these criteria, from policy and technical safeguards to public accountability. This achievement earned the judges' unanimous approval, affirming that New Taipei’s AI governance proudly meets international standards.

   

    Chen Fu-Tien, Director of the New Taipei City Government Information Center, noted that as Taiwan's most populous municipality with over 4 million residents and 489 government agencies, New Taipei operates the country's most complex local administration. The rapid expansion of generative AI brings new threats such as personal data leaks and algorithmic bias. However, cities around the world have long lacked a clear definition of high-risk AI and practical management framework. To bridge this gap, New Taipei adopted a policy first, technology second approach. Drawing on the principles of the EU AI Act, the city issued the New Taipei City AI Governance Guidelines, which categorize AI applications into four distinct risk tiers. High risk AI systems must undergo rigorous evaluations by the city's AIEC across six core assessment areas aligned with the NIST AI Risk Management Framework (AI RMF), and they may only be deployed upon achieving zero deficiencies. Technically, New Taipei implements a robust three-stage protection lifecycle adhering to ISO/IEC 42001 standards. This is reinforced by advanced red-team exercises drawing on international frameworks such as the OWASP Top 10 for LLM Applications and MITRE ATLAS, paired with localized threat intelligence tailored for the Traditional Chinese context. In addition, the city strictly excludes ICT products from Chinese-funded companies. The goal is to make sure AI is not only useful, but also remains reliable, secure, and worthy of public trust.

   

    This has been a year of continued success for New Taipei’s AI governance. Before this award, the project had already won three international awards in 2026: the WITSA Global AI Award for Public Policy, the Outstanding City (Overseas City category) at Korea’s WSCE 2026 Awards, and the 2026 ASOCIO Digital Government Award. With the addition of the Asia-Pacific Region Best in Security and Trust IDC Future Enterprise Awards, the project has now won four major international awards within a single year. This record shows that New Taipei’s AI trust framework can be readily adopted by other cities around the world and delivers real value for public governance. Looking ahead, New Taipei aims to expand AI threat intelligence-sharing networks globally and disseminate its best practices. The city will also pioneer a framework for mutual recognition of AI security testing among Taiwan’s municipalities, while continuously keeping pace with updates to the OWASP Top 10 for LLM Applications and MITRE ATLAS. Guided by the principle that while AI innovation moves rapidly, security governance must remain fully aligned, New Taipei will continue to collaborate with partners across all sectors to build a safer, more trustworthy smart city and continue to showcase the strength of Taiwan’s urban AI governance to the world.